The rule of three
by Murkay
Summary: Jack wants to get drunk and Liz joins him


Its midweek and Jack feels like drinking early tonight. Just before Jonathan leaves for the day he asks for him to call Lemon and have her come up and join him in his office. It's not long before Jack can hear the elevator doors open and he instantly recognises the splay footed walk making its way towards his office.

'Ah Lemon'

Jack greets Liz with a smile and raises a glass to her arrival.

'Get drunk with my tonight Lemon?'

Liz shrugs her shoulders as if to say why not, it is midweek already and what's not to celebrate about that? Jack makes his way towards the drink cart and free pours Liz a glass of white wine. He is extra careful while placing the wine back into its wine cooler as it is his last one and Lemon will need all of it to get as drunk as he.

After a few hours pass with them chatting and hitting the booze, it's Liz's turn to get up off the couch and make the drinks. Stumbling over to the drunk cart, she can't help but notice the cart looks a little ransacked. As she checks each bottle and heavy handily hits the bottom of each one, she has only confirmed her suspicions that they are all empty and so turns to Jack.

'Jackwee Dee, no booze is left for you and me?'

Jack rises to his feet but to only loose his balance and ends up wresting on the arm of the couch, as he is unfit to support his body. The alcohol has made him hysterical and he begins to laugh uncontrollably. Jack sways back and forth holding onto his stomach while he continues laughing. Liz walks over to remind him of the seriousness of the situation and takes a hold of Jack to straightening him up.

'Well Jack, if you're not going to get more drunks, then I'm out of here'

Jack realising that the bar was dry and the wee hours of the morning where approaching, he decides that he will have to end their evening.

'Lemon, let's call it a night?'

An unsteady Liz is now supporting her weight on Jack and she moves her arms around his neck to steady herself.

'Goodzz Neights Jack'

Leaning in, her eyes narrow and she plants a drunken kiss on Jacks whisky soaked lips. The kiss lasts only a second but none the less their first kiss.

'See you tomorrow Dons a ghee'

XX

The next morning Liz arrives at work clutching a cup of coffee while recalling any memory from her evening with Jack. Liz enters the writers' room to which the writers don't acknowledge her clearly visible hangover.

'Morning Liz'

Liz grumbles at Pete as she sips her hot coffee.

'Hey Cerie, can you get me a coffee please, extra hot?'

Cerie looks at Liz while she continues drinking despite the fact she can see Liz struggling to keep her coffee down. Cerie skips off and follows her request before letting Liz know that Jack is waiting for her in his office. With Cerie out of sight Liz questions to Pete why Jack wants to see her.

'Pete, Jack wants to see me? What about?'

'Liz, its Thursday. You have a meeting with Jack every Thursday.'

'Yeehhhh, sure. Listen Pete, you wanna join me on this one buddy?'

'I'm good'

XX

Liz enters the elevator that takes her up to Jack's office and has a vague memory of a late night drunken kiss with Jack. She is a little embarrassed about her behaviour and decides to hide her embarrassment with being overly confident and walks into Jack's office, like nothing ever happened.

'Hey buddy, how you feeling this morning? I'm feeling chipper considering the amount of alcohol I has last night, I was super drunk, you might even say intoxicated?'

'You had one bottle'

'Well, regardless I can't remember a thing. Nothing. Nada, not one memory remains in tacked'

'Lemon, I appreciate you hiding your embarrassment. Look you kissed me, so let's just acknowledge it and let it go shall we?'

'Oh yeh...something's coming back to me now?'

Jack is seeing right through her attempt at lying and enjoys watching her squirm whilst she tries to explain her actions from the night before.

'Let's be clear here, it was a good night kiss, it was night time and people normally kiss at night, so...'

'Lemon, it was a good night kiss, between friends, can we leave it at that?'

Liz is relieved that Jack has acknowledged the elephant in the room and they start their Thursday meeting as usual.

XX

Liz is sitting in darkness as she works on her laptop when the flashing from her direct line lights up her office. Liz picks up the phone only to stop the high pitched ringing which she fears will bring on another migraine.

'You coming up?'

'Jack, I don't know...I mean I have lots of... stuff to do.'

'Stuff Lemon?'

'Yeh, stuff'

'I'll see you in five'

XX

As Liz enters Jack office her eyes immediately make their way to the drink cart which has been replenished and over stocked; the mere sight of the cart is making her feel nauseous.

'Drink Lemon?'

Liz inspects her hands for evidence of her hangover shingles; they are not nearly as wobbly as they had been in the morning. Even though they are still a little shaky she decides to take Jack up on his offer.

'Hair of the dog, right Jack?'

Jack passes a pre-poured glass of wine and Liz takes her first sip, she fights the cool liquid the entire way down. The smell brings back the instant feeling of her hangover and the taste is a reminder of her vomiting into her trash can earlier that day but she finds comfort knowing that Jack's bathroom is only a short distance away.

The atmosphere in Jack's office is different from the previous night, when they had talked about their lives and more off topic subjects like TGS. Instead they seemed to be more focused on getting drunk. Jack was standing next to the drink cart the whole time, he replenished his drink, emptied his drink, poured Liz a drink, waited for her to finish to then re-pour and the whole vicious cycle started all over again.

Liz could feel her cheeks getting hot and her eyeballs felt warm as the alcohol took control of her body. With Jack showing no signs of stopping anytime soon she knew she would have to leave before another embarrassing moment occurred.

An unsteady Liz pushed herself off the couch and it takes all of her focus to stand straight to say her goodbyes to Jack.

'I'm going to go, so good night Jack'

Trying not to make a fuss of her leaving she makes a move towards the door. Jack notices her poor attempt at creeping out and so places his glass on the side of the cart so he can assist her with the door handle.

'Lemon, why is it you can never establish the difference between Push and Pull?'

Placing one hand on the door handle and the other on Lemon's back to hold her steady he too wishes her a good night. Leaning in and slightly parting his lips, Jack places a soft kiss on Liz's mouth and she responds by pursing her lips with his. The kiss is longer than the night before but this time it is, just on the periphery of being friendly.

'Good night Lemon'

'Good night Jack'

XX

It's Groundhog Day all over again. Liz wakes up in her apartment with a thumping headache from her drinking antics with Jack the night before; she slowly gets out of bed to pour herself a pot of coffee to which she drinks straight from the pot. She has a cold shower and gets dressed, then leaves her apartment. While on route to work she makes a quick stop for more coffee. As she stands waiting in the queue she finds herself reminiscing about her 'friendly kiss' with Jack.

'Morning Liz'

Liz snaps out of her day dream and quickly realises that highway hypnosis has struck again. Did she just walk the entire length of 40 blocks without realising it? Did she enter 30 Rock, pass security, swipe her card, ride the elevator and enter the writers' room without any memory of it happening? The only memory she was recalling was the initial one she had in the coffee shop.

XX

As the credits roll and the audience leave the studio. Liz stands at the podium with the relief that it is all over until it all starts up again on Monday.

As the Executive Producer of TGS, Jack gives congratulation for another great show and informs everyone about the after party details. Waving his hands in the air, Jack signals that the cast and crew had better get a move on because there is only so much free champagne available.

Once everyone has left, Jack invites Liz up to his office for their Friday night tradition of drinks and a chance to talk about the details of the show. Liz not wanting to break with tradition rides the elevator with Jack to the 52nd floor. Entering Jack's office, Liz can see a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for them; again this is nothing out of the ordinary, she thinks to herself.

Jack corks the champagne and pours two glasses, one of which he passes to Liz. Liz takes a seat on the arm of the couch and holds back from taking a sip. Jack too, has yet to taste the champagne. As Liz sits she swirls the champagne round the glass watching Jack while he does the same. Looking at each other they brave a sip. The alcohol barely touches Liz's lips before she pulls away and Jack too takes only enough to wet his lips.

'Wow, I feel pretty drunk'

'Me too'

Jack throws down his glass, Liz throws down her glass.

Jack sprints across the length of his office to pick Liz up from the arm of the couch and they lock lips. This is not a good night kiss, nor is it a friendly kiss, it is very much a passionate kiss. Liz can feel Jack's heavy hands on her back pushing her towards his torso which encourages her to make the kiss even deeper.

Even though it is not technically their first kiss, it is their first sober kiss.

THE END


End file.
